VisualARQ already provides useful object-based selection tools, such as selecting all walls, walls of the same style, connected walls, contained doors/windows, etc.
I think it would be very useful to extend this concept with a BIM-aware pre-selection filter.
Before making a selection, the user could enable the VisualARQ object types that should be selectable, for example:
- Walls
- Beams
- Columns
- Slabs
- Doors
- Windows
- Stairs
- Spaces
- etc.
Normal Rhino selection methods would then continue to work exactly as they do now — click, Window, Crossing, etc. — but only the enabled VisualARQ object types would be selected.
For example, with only Walls and Columns enabled, a Crossing selection over a complex model would select only walls and columns and ignore the other object types.
The important point, in my opinion, is to keep this very simple and quick to use. It should behave like a selection filter, not require setting up a complex selection query.
Selection by Level could also be a useful extension, although this seems less essential since the Levels panel already provides visibility and isolation controls.
This idea was originally raised by @GabrielB in the [Hidden display selection topic]. I think it deserves a separate Wish because it is independent from that issue.